Munich- One of the best things women can do to prevent a baby being born with a serious birth defect such as spina bifida is to enrich their diet with folic acid even before conception and early pregnancy. According to experts at the German Gynaecologists'Federation in Munich (BVF), an intake of folic acid, also known as folate, reduces the risk of a baby being born with a serious neural tube defect by up to 70 per cent. Such defects lead to an abnormal development of the brain.
The most common neural tube defects are spina bifida, namely an incomplete closure of the spinal cord and spinal column along with anencephaly and encephalocele, both of which involve a serious underdevelopment of the brain.
These defects all occur during the first 28 days of pregnancy, often at a time when a woman may not even know that she is pregnant.
All women of childbearing age and in particular those planning a pregnancy are therefore advised to begin taking a folic acid supplement at least one month before conception, say the BVF experts.
